Green waste collections in Arun District still up to five weeks behind schedule

Biffa, the waste management company which collects bins and green waste on Arun District Council’s behalf, has pinned the blame on a national shortage of lorry drivers and the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic making it considerably more difficult to collect bins on time.

“We have considerably fewer drivers than usual” the company website says. “Whilst every effort is being made to collect garden waste, we are experiencing delays to the service. We are currently accepting increased garden waste on collection day of up to three sacks to minimise inconvenience.”

At the time of writing, some collections are up to five weeks behind schedule, with some green waste bins that were originally due to be collected on Friday, July 23 and then rescheduled to be collected on August 6, still pending collection.

The company has asked customers to continue leaving their bins out at the edge of their properties and to check back online if their collection date is not displayed.

Issues with the green waste club service, which residents pay more than £80 a year to join, started earlier this year, when Biffa announced a suspension of service on June 21. The service returned on July 5, but has experienced delays ever since, with many customers unhappy with the slow rate of collections.

Responding to the complaints, managing director Roger Edwards apologised for the delay, saying: “We are working really hard to ensure continuity of service. Other councils are experiencing similar problems and the industry is working with Government to try and find a solution. However, possible disruption in one form or another is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

“We have increased our staffing levels in the Contact Centre and recruited extra advisors to cope with the unprecedented numbers of calls and emails we are receiving from our customers across the country. We acknowledge that response times for calls and emails are unfortunately longer than we would hope. We would ask that you do not repeatedly email as this only makes it harder to respond to you. Please accept our apologies for those of you who have not been able to get through to us.”

For more on the green waste club and for updates on scheduled collections, click here.